You read that right: $210 trillion. A trillion here, a trillion there: pretty soon, we’re talking big money. Professor Lawrence Kotlikoff of Boston University testified before the Senate Budget Committee. As usual, his testimony is shocking The U.S. has a $210 trillion “fiscal gap” and “may well be in worse fiscal shape than any developed […]

Americans still think the federal government can and should solve problems. This is their default mode. At the same time, they do not think Washington is competent. This is what is sometimes called cognitive dissonance. Lack of trust is across the boards: in the presidency, Congress, and the Supreme Court. Here are the latest findings. […]

by Wolf Richter Wells Fargo, which originated $30 billion in auto loans last year, has for the first time put a cap on subprime auto loans, limiting the dollar volume of subprime loan originations to 10% of its total auto loan originations. The New York Times reported that the bank, “according to people briefed on […]

By David Stockman It is almost certain now that we are at the threshold of crossing the Rubicon which will result in a crackup of the EU and the euro. There are just too many centrifugal forces blowing apart this experiment, which was misbegotten from the very beginning. That will then catalyze a thundering global […]

Alan Greenspan has given an interview on the federal government’s budgetary impasse. Neither political party is willing to face it. But it must be faced at some point. He did not mention the obvious: the Federal Reserve’s role in delaying this crisis. He delayed it. Bernanke delayed it. Yellen delayed it. The FED has the […]

The costs of the 2003-2010 Iraq War are often contested, as academics and critics have unearthed many hidden costs not represented in official estimates. The most recent major report on these costs come from Brown University in the form of the Costs of War, which totaled just over $1.1 trillion. The Department of Defense’s direct […]

By Harris Kupperman What is the senior debt on a shale play that needs $100 oil to be profitable worth? With oil at $51, it’s worth roughly zero. What is the equity worth? Even less. What is the junk debt worth? Somewhere in the middle. The first epiphany in the shale patch will soon be […]

Japanese drew down savings for the first time on record while wages adjusted for inflation dropped the most in almost five years, highlighting challenges for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe as he tries to revive the world’s third-largest economy. The savings rate in the year through March was minus 1.3 percent, the first negative reading in […]

Pro football player Michael Vick could have fled for Chapter 7 and escaped this burden when he was in prison. Instead, he filed for Chapter 11 — reorganization. He has just about paid it off. He became a Christian in prison. He worked with former Colts Coach Tony Dungy to get back on track. He […]

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) recently reported that for older Americans, debt collection is the top complaint. About one out of three complaints submitted to the agency by seniors is about debt collection. The major complaints include being hounded for medical debts currently in dispute, attempts to collect the debts of deceased family members […]